Wallabies coach Dave Rennie will be desperate for revenge against the All Blacks when the teams meet on September 5, but he’ll be without Hunter Paisami and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto for the third Bledisloe Cup Test.
SANZAAR recently confirmed the new Rugby Championship schedule, which sees Australia host New Zealand in Perth before the competition moves to Queensland.
The All Blacks have already retained the Bledisloe Cup after beating the Wallabies in back-to-back games at Eden Park, the most recent of which ended in a record-breaking 57-22 rout.
Centre Paisami and Queensland Reds team-mate Salakaia-Loto each featured in that debilitating defeat, but it appears neither will feature on September 5 as they await the births of their first children.
Rennie told reporters both players were in the squad’s Perth bubble but have since returned to Brisbane: “Their partners are due on the first (of September) and beyond so they both came here originally and have since left.”
The change means both teams will be missing personnel due to babies being close to arrival, with New Zealand currently missing Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith and Richie Mo’unga for the same reason.
That trio remained in New Zealand when the All Blacks flew out to Perth on Thursday, while lock Scott Barrett could leave the tour at a later date with his firstborn on the way.
Paisami—who has 11 Wallabies caps—started at centre in each of the last two games against the All Blacks, with recalled Samu Kerevi a potential replacement.
Australia previously had two dates locked in to face the All Blacks, but New Zealand Rugby threw the tournament’s schedule into chaos after pulling out of their original plans to fly to Perth.
But Rennie—who said earlier this week that he was “bloody angry” with the situation—insisted he and his players aren’t focusing on those tensions for inspiration to turn the tide: “We’re not necessarily using it as extra motivation.
“The disappointment for us was we knew that the Rugby Championship was going to be played somewhere in the world on the 12th of September.
“The All Blacks committed to play us originally on the 21st (of August) and then the 28th and, had they come over here, what we knew was on the 29th we're all jumping on a plane heading to somewhere in the world.
"Whether that was Brisbane, South Africa or that was the UK and, from that perspective, we felt they should have been on the plane and come over and fulfilled their commitments.
"But anyway ... they're here now. There's plenty of motivating factors and the biggest one is the scoreline last time we played.”
The 57 points New Zealand scored the last time these nations met is the largest total Australia has ever conceded in a Bledisloe Cup fixture.
Losing both back and forward options in Paisami and Salakaia-Loto won’t aid their hopes of improving at Optus Stadium, but they won’t be the only team missing stars thanks to the stork.
